The Harvest

by Scott Nicholson

Book Overview

Nestled deep in the South Appalachian Mountains is the town of Windshake. Living among the populace of good ol' boy moonshiners and god-fearing folk are psychologies Tamara Leon and her family. All her life Tamara has been haunted by dark dreams and visions. She calls them Gloomies.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786015799
• ISBN13: 9780786015795
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Pinnacle Books
• Length: 383 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

Hair Raising

The author does it again, another edge of your seat read. Lights on, blanket, let's go!

hungry hills

I live in the Southern Appalachians and I enjoyed Nicholson's use of the setting in this strange alien infection tale. The characters were good, though a couple of them didn't work for me--like he was trying to hard to make them "Southern." I read his story collection and that caused me to grab all his novels. The cover blurb compares him to Stephen King but that's not really accurate. For one thing, nobody's as good as King, and for another, I think Nicholson is probably a little bit on the weird side. Like Chester in the book, he's probably been drinking too much moonshine. If you like your horror with a little bit of cheesy science fiction and a zombie element thrown in, this book's for you.

Sometimes a plant just wants to eat...Everything

Something has crash landed into the Appalachian mountains, just above a tiny one-horse town named Windshake. Wounded and hungry, completely unaware of its surroundings, it begins to feed, needing strength to continue its journey.Enter the town of Windshake. It's a quiet mountain town, only just beginning to be discovered by developers. It is typically populated with a thin veneer of middle class who overlay the larger collection of dirt poor white trash. Moonshine stills, logging roads, mountain cabins and trailer parks all combine to overcome any real influence from the nearby small University, where Tamara Leon teaches.She had moved out of the city in order for her husband Robert to take a job at a local yokel radio station, the only job he could find. Bye-bye city life, hello Moose Lodge and Hog Calling. Tamara carries a heavier weight on her shoulders than just moving her family out into the sticks, for she suffers from what she calls "The Gloomies", which is nothing more than a form of ESP.The second major character is Chester Mull, a crotchety mountain man who's day is filled by drinking moonshine on his porch with his ancient hound dog, at least until the mountain begins to glow a sickly green and his friend Oscar stumbles into his yard looking more plant than man.Scott Nicholson has done an absolutely tremendous job with this novel, bringing the small town people into fully fleshed reality, and revealing Windshake as a place you can not only see but smell and taste and feel.The Harvest is one of those stories that is about the entire town, with a few foremost characters leading the hunt for what ails their community. The usual problems seen with books like this are shallow characterizations, which you certainly won't find here. The sinful Preacher, the overly religious Parishioner who is falling for the church secretary, the white trash trailer park queen, the dope smoking teenagers, the fat and lazy sheriff, the excessively arrogant mayor, the successful moonshiner; all are completely introduced as individuals who you will love to hate, or hate to love.Tamara and Chester make an unlikely team when finally they meet up, and with a couple of fellow believers they undertake the daunting task of destroying the creature that has extended its tendrils into their town. There is something to be said for a joyfully entertaining, wildly unrealistic adventure into a nightmare landscape or horror and helplessness. Not every book is a work of art, and not every work of art is entertaining, so if you want a hoity-toity art book, go pick up a Tolstoy. But if what you are looking for is a roller-coaster ride filled with aliens, inhuman hunger, green guts, bizarre plants, gaping earth-mouths, and squishy things that go bump in the night, then grab a copy of The Harvest and settle in for the ride. Enjoy!

CHILLING!

Set in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. Dr. Tamara Leon teaches down at Westridge. She has always had the "gift" of being clairvoyant. She called the darker feelings "the Gloomies". She lived in the little town of Windshake with her husband and two small children. Her marriage is a bit rocky, since her husband HATES hearing anything about the Gloomies. He did not believe in the mess at all. Yet the Gloomies were getting stronger lately. In fact, ever since the weird object fell from the heavens and landed somewhere in the mountains. Things and people began to change. Whatever landed in those mountains was growing and assaulting Tamara's mind in a psychic invasion. Chester Mull KNEW something was going on! His dog has been turned inside-out, literally! People he used to call "friends" have drastically changed too. Their eyes glowed an eerie green and their skin seemed to be melting. The zombies sought out other living beings to "convert". Their master, Shu-Shaaa, was hungry and must be fed. It was assimilating itself into the biosystem of the planet, slowing learning and eating everything. As it fed, it searched for the meaning of one set of syllables that seemed to nag at its core. The syllables called "Taa-maaa-raaa." ***** Stephen King and Dean Koontz fans need to sit up and take notice of this talented author. Scott Nicholson has created a new terror that will keep you up late into the night! (Don't say I did not warn you.) Nicholson seems to be destined for fame. Highly recommended reading! ***** Reviewed by Detra Fitch

Harvesting terror...aliens land in freakin' Appalachia

For a few characters in Scott Nicholson's newly released book 'The Harvest,' a quart of moonshine may be necessary to make the alien orifice probes go down a lot smoother, but readers won't need any corn lick'er to make 'em keep reading this horrific tale.Set in a remote area of the mountains of North Carolina, an alienbeing lands on top of a ridge and has the local Appalachio-American population runnin' amuck with fear.Nicholson brandishes a green crayon to vividly color the characters and makes sure to throw in some good old fashioned trailer trash sex for good measure.Nicholson continues his tradition of excellent storytelling. No disappointments here!

Great Fun!

I really enjoyed this book. I am a big fan of "icky bug" (monster) stories and this one is right up there with the best. To sum it up, icky bug from space lands on earth in North Carolina, a bunch of hillbillies get et' by it, then the icky bug gets it's just deserts. My requirement for a good horror story is that the icky bug eats half the characters, there is lots of sex, and there is a liberal use of "colorful metaphors." This book has it all. I'm being a little facetious but you get the point.I will not go into the actual story line here but after a few chapters you can just see these people and their lives unfolding as the monster grows in strength. After living in West Virginia, I can well relate to the images of an old hillbilly living out in the woods, sittin' on the porch, swiggin' moonsine, with the old dawg too lazy to even wag his tail. The image may be exaggerated a little but this type of life still exists in the backwoods of the Appalachian states.Well drawn characters, good icky bug, moved along real well. For those of you interested in good ole' fun reading, this is the book for you.